


Just a Day in the Life of a Superhero-Dad

by softpeterparker (orphan_account)



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Family Fluff, Fluff and Humor, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, Kid Peter Parker, Other, Parent Tony Stark, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Superfamily, Superfamily (Marvel), Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark is Good With Kids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 05:30:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14784426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/softpeterparker
Summary: From fighting crime to dealing with a four-year-old, Tony has got his work cut out for him.





	Just a Day in the Life of a Superhero-Dad

Tony stood in the doorway while Peter brushed his teeth. He watched as his eyes drooped and his hand coordination got worse and worse. Twice he missed his mouth and wiped toothpaste across his cheek, even with a mirror right in front of him. When he was done he simply wiped at the toothpaste with his fingers and moved to walk out of the door, when Tony put out a hand feeling slightly disgusted. “You have to wipe your face with a towel, not just your hand.”

Peter nodded and did as he was told before lifting up his arms towards Tony with half-shut eyes and a yawn. Tony rolled his eyes before giving Peter a fond smile and picking him up from his armpits. With Peter on his hip he shut off the bathroom light and walked down the hallway towards Peter’s room.

For the first few months Peter had out-right refused to sleep in his own room without Tony. Every night, no matter what Tony told Peter, he would hear a knock at his door and be greeted with big puppy-eyes and occasionally tears. Eventually he’d just tuck Peter in with him and skip the whole process entirely. But over the months Tony’s been worrying more and more about stunting Peter’s ability to be independent, or making Peter even more afraid now of sleeping alone, or just being a bad parent in general, and Tony had decided to make Peter sleep alone for one night. Not to his surprise, Peter had nearly thrown a fit, but after a couple of hours he’d fallen asleep just fine. 

Since then Peter had slept alone. Maybe he had realized he preferred not fighting with Tony over the blanket. Or maybe he enjoyed having more space. Tony had no idea what had just clicked, but it wasn’t his job to understand four-year-olds, so he didn’t bother to keep himself up till 3am researching it. (He only stayed up till 1am, for your information.) 

Tony carefully set Peter down on the mattress, making 100% sure not to set him down too hard. Peter immediately stretched out on the bed and pulled the covers over himself, and then he looked up at his dad and smiled sleepily. 

“I’m guessing you don’t need a bedtime story tonight?” Tony asked, amused, and Peter shook his head while nuzzling into the big fluffy pillow. “Goodnight.” 

“‘Night, kiddo,” Tony murmured, and he kissed Peter on the forehead before walking out of the room, lingering in the doorway for just a few seconds before turning the light off and closing the door as quietly as possible. 

For a couple of hours he tested projects and fiddled with old inventions in the workshop before calling it a day at 2am. After cracking his knuckles and yawning, he walked up the stairs and then collapsed into his bed. 

“How’s Peter doing, JARVIS?” 

“The young master is doing well, Sir, and the tower is secure. I would suggest going to sleep now, as the recommended amount of sleep for adults is--” 

“Thanks, mom.” Tony dismissed the artificial intelligence and climbed under the covers before falling fast asleep. 

 

Tony woke up to the worst sound in the world. 

Peter screaming.

Immediately Tony jumped to his feet, stumbling out of the bed and grabbing the wrist-repulsor out of his nightstand before racing out of his room to Peter’s. 

“DAD!”

“Shit--wrong room--it’s just me, Pete, look, it’s just--”

Tony burst into the room and quickly analyzed the situation before acting. Peter was curled up against the headboard with half of his face and the rest of his body hidden under a blanket. A familiar gray machine was standing a couple feet away from the bed and without thinking Tony grabbed the apparent shoulder of it and pointed the repulsor in its face. 

The face turned out to be Rhodey’s flustered face.  
“Woah, Tones, it’s just me man, chill out,” he said, staring at the repulsor with worried eyes, and Tony put his arm down with a relieved sigh. He regained his breath for a moment, trying to get the thought of his son’s imminent death off of his mind before looking back up. 

“You nearly gave me a heart attack,” Tony muttered, and he turned back to his son. Upon seeing the face mask had disappeared and been replaced with Rhodey’s face, a wide smile instantly replaced the look of terror on Peter’s face. He squealed “Uncle Rhodey!” before he scrambled out of his bed and ran forward, doing the same motion for a pick-up that he always did to Tony. Rhodey attempted it but because of the armor he could barely bend down, and with a quiet snicker Tony picked up Peter himself and handed him to Rhodey. Peter immediately latched onto Rhodey with no hesitation despite the machine guns on Rhodey’s shoulders. 

Peter had always loved Rhodey, and every time he saw him he clung onto him and followed him around like there was nothing better to do. It made Tony immeasurably happy that Peter loved his best friend, and he knew how happy it made Rhodey no matter how annoyed he pretended to be with Peter. But that still didn’t explain what Rhodey was doing at 7 in the morning with the War Machine suit in Peter’s room. 

While Peter’s head was facing the other way, Rhodey mouthed ‘We have to talk’ to Tony with a serious expression. Which didn’t mean good things. Not wanting Peter to get nosy, Tony hoisted Peter off of Rhodey and set him down on the floor. Peter pouted just for a second before Tony said, “How about you go get the things we need to bake some blueberry pancakes?”

“Yeah!” Peter exclaimed, grin getting impossibly wider as he ran out of the room. Now that Peter was gone, Tony turned back to Rhodey. “What part of the sky is falling now?”

“You need to jump into the armour now. There’s a shootout happening in upper New York right now, between some criminals and the police. They’re trying their best but it’s not working. They’re using Stark Industries weapons, so they were probably buyers of Obadiah’s. Can you go now?” Rhodey’s face suddenly became much more serious and worried, and Tony realized how dire the situation was. 

He would love to jump into the suit and get on going, but the only problem was that he couldn’t leave his four-year-old son alone in the house while he fought crime. Pepper probably had a ton of shit going on, he didn’t hire Happy to babysit, and he wasn’t just about to hire some random babysitter for his son-- 

May and Ben Parker. 

Peter’s aunt and uncle who only lived ten minutes away. 

“Yeah, I could do that. Just give me fifteen minutes,” Tony said, and he raced off downstairs. 

 

Tony was standing at the door of the Parkers’ apartment, tapping his foot nervously and waiting for someone to come to the door. Since dropping Peter off at their house at 7:12 in the morning, he’d been non-stop worrying about Peter and what his aunt and uncle thought of him. Of course, there was the fact that they’d both had work and he’d completely inconvenienced them. And there was the other fact that it probably looked like he was having a mental breakdown, from how he’d practically ran from the door five seconds after they had answered.

And most importantly: what about Peter? Did he think Tony had just not wanted to deal with him? Of course he’d explained why he was suddenly dropping Peter off somewhere else, but what if Peter hadn’t understood it or worse, didn’t believe that was just it?

It really said something that Tony was more worried about his son being upset with him than how a criminal shut-down had went. But really, that had been easy and only taken six hours; Tony had spent a year trying to be the best father for Peter, so he would be bitter if one day had ruined it. 

Finally someone opened the door, and it was May. She looked happy to see him, at least. 

“Hey, Tony. Peter’s doing fine, he’s just doodling on the couch. When he saw you on the news he freaked out.” Her eyes had an amused glint on the last few words. 

“I’m hoping he freaked out in a good way,” Tony said, and he politely walked past May to where Peter was hanging out. Walking over to the couch, he leaned over and poked Peter in the hip. The kid whipped around and when he saw Tony, his entire face lit up. 

“I saw you on the news! It was so cool!” Peter jumped onto the couch and thrust his drawing into Tony’s face. It was a crude drawing of Iron Man punching a bad guy in the face. “I drew this for you too! Do you like it?” 

“I’m hanging this on the refrigerator, you little artist,” Tony affirmed, and he looked back at May. “Sorry for making you skip work, again, I was in a hurry--”

“It’s fine. I like spending time with the ball of energy you call ‘Peter’,” May joked. 

“Oh, thank god. I thought I’d be stuck with him forever,” Tony said sarcastically, and Peter tugged at his arm. “Hey! You like being around me!”

“No I don’t.”

“Yes you do!”

“No I don’t,” Tony replied, now looking at Peter and not being able to contain a smile. 

“Yes you do!” Peter said, as indiginant as ever, and Tony shrugged, pretending to not care. “I guess I do.”

“Knew it,” Peter said, as if he’d been in a heated debate, and Tony laughed. And gazing at Peter’s offended face only made him laugh harder. 

“Why are you laughing?”

“Because you’re adorable.” 

“No I’m not!” 

 

After a late lunch at May’s house, stopping Peter from nearly burning the house down, and dinner, Tony was just about ready to sleep for the next five years. While sitting on Peter’s bed, reading The Hobbit, his eyes drooped and he fell back on the bed, eyes closing and body relaxing. 

“Dad?” Peter asked, and Tony just faked a snore in response. Peter, the perfect kid he is, climbed out from under the covers and laid right under Tony’s outstretched arm and closed his eyes as well. “‘Night, Dad.” 

“Goodnight, Petey. Love you.” 

“Love you too.” 

And with that, they fell asleep without a care in the world, knowing they’d have each other in the morning.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the tooth-rotting fluff I've thrown onto the internet. I have more superfamily fics on my account and more coming up soon!


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